Energy storing device

ABSTRACT

Energy storage device characterized in that energy storing body formed of hollow cone of polyurethane is provided between pair of guide members in form of inverted hollow cones. These assemblies are serially arranged one upon another and held in cylinder body under piston pressure. Compressive force developed between pair of guide members deforms energy storing cone and restoring force of body is taken out as hydraulic power.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an energy storing device and moreparticularly to an energy storing device which utilizes the restoringcharacteristics of polyurethane resin.

A device for controlling a machine by slowly releasing stored energyfinds use in various fields of engineering. The only construction whichhas been so far available for the purpose of slowly releasing storedenergy is the steel spring. However, such devices can only store alimited amount of energy and use thereof has been restricted because ofthe configuration.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a device which utilizesthe restoring characteristics of polyurethane resin to develop energy.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a device whichutilizes the restoring characteristics of a hollow cone of polyurethaneresin which has been axially compressed and deformed.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a device inwhich an energy storing body is provided between a pair of guide membersof inverted hollow cone shape whereby energy is stored by compressingand deforming the energy storing body following the contours of theinverted hollow cones which form the guide members.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a device inwhich combinations of energy storing bodies and inverted hollowcone-shaped guide members are built into a cylinder and the storedenergy in the cylinder is taken out as hydraulic pressure.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a devicewhich widely serves as an energy source for various machines.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Novel features and advantages of the present invention in addition tothose mentioned above will become apparent to those skilled in the artfrom a reading of the following detailed description in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings wherein similar reference characters refer tosimilar parts and in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an energy storing body usedin a device according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a guide member used in adevice according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 4-6 schematically illustrate the deformation of the energy storingbody shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of another energy storing body;

FIG. 8a is a longitudinal sectional view of another guide member;

FIG. 8b is a plan view of the guide member of FIG. 8a;

FIG. 9 is a plan view illustrating the arrangement of guide membersbuilt into a cylinder;

FIG. 10 is a partial longitudinal sectional view of another embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 11a is a longitudinal sectional view of still another energystoring body according to the present invention;

FIG. 11b is a longitudinal sectional view of another energy storing bodyaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 12a is a longitudinal sectional view of another modification of theenergy storing body; and

FIG. 12b is a bottom plan view of the energy storing body of FIG. 12a.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIGS. 1-6 illustrate one embodiment of the present invention utilizingan energy storing body A₁. As shown in FIG. 1, the energy storing bodyA₁ represents a hollow cone of polyurethane resin with its inner andouter surfaces smoothly curved in a generally vertical direction. Themiddle portion of the body is thick and that thickness diminishes towardthe top and bottom of the body.

FIG. 2 illustrates a guide member B₁ adapted to be coupled with theenergy storing body A₁ and functions as holding means therefor. Theguide member B₁ has a seat 2 at its top open edge for receiving thelarge diameter periphery 1 of the energy storing body A₁. Also, theguide member B₁ has a seat 4 at its bottom for receiving the smalldiameter periphery 3 of the energy storing body A₁. An air hole 5 islocated at the center of the bottom end of the member B₁, and the innerand outer surfaces are smoothly curved thereby forming an invertedhollow cone.

A cylinder device 6 is provided for holding an assembly of the energystoring bodies A₁ and guide members B₁. As shown in FIG. 3, the cylinder6 consists of a base plate 8 and a cover plate 9 to seal both ends of acylinder body 7. A piston 10 is inserted in the cylinder body 7, and thecylinder body 7 is divided by the piston 10 into two chambers, one ofwhich communicates with a pressurized oil supply and exhaust holes 11A,11B opening in the cover plate 9. An air exhaust hole 12 is centrallylocated in the base plate 8.

In FIG. 4, the guide member B₁ is inserted into the cylinder body 7through the bottom end thereof. The projection 5A provided with the airhole 5 is placed facing the air exhaust hole 12. The energy storing bodyA₁ is positioned within the cylindrical body 7 so that the largediameter periphery 1 of the energy storing body A₁ rests upon the seat 2of the guide member B₁. The guide member B₁ next to the energy storingbody A₁ is located so that the projection 5A provided with the air hole5 fits within the small diameter periphery 3 of the energy storing bodyA₁.

Similarly a guide member B₁ and an energy-storing body A₁ are assembledone next to the other, and the overall assembly is inserted into one ofthe chambers in the cylinder body 7. A guide member B₁ is placed at thetop most level and its top surface is in contact with the piston 10.Thus each energy storing body A₁ is held between a pair of top andbottom guide members B₁, B₁. As shown in FIG. 4, a piston shaft 13penetrates the cover plate 9 and extends out of the cylinder device 6.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1-6, when pressurized oil is sentthrough the supply hole 11A into the cylinder body 7 to push the piston10, each energy storing body A₁ provided between the guide members B₁,B₁ is deformed as a result of receiving a pressure from the seat 4 ofthe upper guide member B₁ in the state of being supported on the seat 2of the lower guide member B₁. The deformation is such that the top andbottom edges of the body A₁ are compressed along the seats 2, 4 of theupper and lower guide members B₁, B₁, as indicated in FIG. 5. Then underan increased pressure, as indicated in FIG. 6, the projection 5A of theguide member B₁ sinks deep into the lower energy storing body A₁. Inconsequence, with the bulge of the energy storing body A₁ compressedbetween the guide members B₁, B₁, the body A₁ is deformed and its coneshape is inverted.

FIG. 3 illustrates the state of each energy storing body A₁ after itsfinal change, where each energy storing body A₁, squeezed between theupper and lower guide members B₁, B₁, has turned into an inverted cone.Through this deformation of the energy storing body A₁, the energyapplied from outside is stored within the body A₁. The hollow cone ofpolyurethane resin, which constitutes the energy storing body A₁,restores itself and is displaced in the axial direction when theexternal pressure is removed. Such displacement is conveyed to thepiston 10, and the displacement of the piston may be taken out in theform of pressurized oil leaving the exhaust hole 11B. The restoration ofthe energy storing body A₁ takes place just as a reversal of thedeformation. Finally each energy storing body A₁ is restored to theconfiguration illustrated in FIG. 4 thereby releasing the energyinternally stored.

In the second embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIGS.7-10, the energy storing body is held between guide members of invertedcone shape. A large number of such assemblies are arranged adjacent oneanother in several upper and lower rows and they are forced into acylinder under the pressure of a piston. The energy storing body usedhere is of the same structure as the one indicated in the firstembodiment, but the guide member B₂ to be coupled with the energystoring body A₂ is polygonal in plan view, such as hexagonal as shown inFIG. 8b. The top open edge of the guide member B₂ defines a seat 22 forreceiving the large diameter periphery 21 of the energy storing body A₂.A seat 24 is provided on the lower end of the member B₂ for receivingthe small diameter periphery 23 of the energy storing body A₂. Thecenter of the bottom end of the member B₂ carries a projection 25A withan air hole 25.

The guide members B₂ and the energy storing bodies A₂ are arranged oneover the other and adjacent to another similar set, with each side ofthe hexagon of the guide member B₂ facing the corresponding side ofanother set. The overall arrangement is held within a cylinder device 26comprising a base plate 28 and a cover plate 29 sealing both ends of acylinder body 27. A piston 30 is inserted within cylinder body 27.

The cylinder 27 is divided by the piston 30 into two chambers, one ofwhich communicates with the supply and exhaust holes 31A, 31B of thepressurized oil opening in the cover plate 29. And in the same manner asthe first embodiment, a large number of air exhaust holes 32, 32 . . .are located in the base plate 28. The air exhaust holes 32 are inalignment with the air holes 25 of the bottom most guide members B₂, asshown in FIG. 10.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 7-10, the energyis stored when an oil is forced through the supply hole 31A into thecylinder 27 to push the piston 30 in a downward direction. Inconsequence, the energy storing body A₂ in each row in the parallelarrangement of guide members B₂ and energy storing bodies A₂ is deformedreceiving a pressure from the seat 24 of the upper guide member B₂ inthe state of being supported on the seat 22 of the lower guide memberB₂. Restoration of the energy storing body takes place just as areversal of the above-mentioned deformation, and the internally storedenergy is released when the original configuration is finally restored.This energy is taken out as a displacement of the piston 30, i.e. as apressurized oil coming out of the exhaust hole 31B.

In both the first and the second embodiments the shape of the energystoring body is not confined to the one illustrated above. The shape canbe any one of the various modifications indicated as A₃, A₄, A₅ in FIGS.11 and 12. The shape of the body of FIG. 11a has a straight portion onthe periphery while the body shown in FIG. 11b is slightly modified inthe internal profile and the diameter. The energy storing body of FIGS.129 and b has internal grooves 33 and external grooves 34.

As described above, according to the present invention sets of energystoring bodies, i.e., hollow cones of polyurethane resin as squeezedbetween guide members of inverted cone shape are piled up and the energyis internally stored when the energy storing bodies are deformedfollowing the contours of the guide members. The feature of polyurethaneresin is effectively utilized to internally store powerful energy. It ison account of the energy storing bodies molded particularly into conesbeing not flatly collapsed but deformed into inverted cones thatpowerful energy can be internally stored.

Especially through qualitative selection of polyurethane resin, acompact, lightweight energy storing device never attainable in theconventional steel spring can be accomplished and it can be applied asthe energy source for various machines.

What is claimed is:
 1. An energy storing device comprising energystoring bodies formed of hollow cones of polyurethane resin, means forholding the energy storing bodies one above the other, means forcompressing and deforming the energy storing bodies whereby the hollowcones are turned inside out, and means for extracting the energy of thedeformed energy storing bodies whereby the energy is internally storedthrough deformation of the energy storing bodies and the stored energyis released through restoration of the deformed bodies and wherein theholding means for each energy storing body is in the shape of aninverted hollow cone having at its top open edge a seat for receivingthe large diameter periphery of the energy storing body and having atits bottom end a seat for receiving the small diameter periphery of theenergy storing body, each holding means also having an air opening inthe bottom end thereof.
 2. An energy storing device as in claim 1wherein each energy storing body is a hollow cone with smoothly curvedsurfaces in the vertical direction, thickened in the middle portionthereof and reduced in thickness toward the upper and lower endsthereof.
 3. An energy storing device as in claim 1 wherein each energystoring body has at least one straight portion on its outer surface. 4.An energy storing device as in claim 1 wherein each energy storing bodyhas longitudinal grooves on the inner and outer surfaces thereof.
 5. Anenergy storing device as in claim 1 wherein the energy storing bodiesand the holding means for the energy storing bodies are seriallyalternated one above the other, and a cylinder body surrounding thebodies and the holding means.
 6. An energy storing device as in claim 5including a piston cooperating with the cylinder body and fluid actingupon the piston to compress and deform the energy storing bodies.
 7. Anenergy storing device as in claim 5 wherein serial alternations of theenergy storing bodies and holding means are arranged parallel within thecylinder body.
 8. An energy storing device as in claim 7 wherein theholding means are externally polygonal in plan view.